Learn how to make CD tea lights. Also learn how to make photo frames, coasters and fancy container lids using old cds.

Recently my little granddaughters and I spent a weekend together making CD crafts and sun catcher butterflies.

The girls and I wanted to try something new to make our CD crafts special and creative. The girls enjoy doing crafts as much as I do so they were excited to discover a new way for using old CDs. As a matter of fact they thought of all sorts of creative ways to use the, what we considered, new and improved CDs.

We took lots of pictures so, if our ideas turned out, we'd be able to share them with you. First we'll show you how we prepared the CDs and then you'll see pictures of how the new items we made can be used.

Paint the CDs

The tea light holders and the jewelry dish are each made with three CDs. On the silver side of two of the CDs, paint with sun catcher paint (color of your choice). Leave one CD as is.

Use one CD for each coaster, photo frame and cookie dish. On the silver side of the CDs, paint with sun catcher paint.

Ready for Oven

For the formed CDs (for the tea light holders and jewelry dish), use two CDs and lay the painted CD directly over the non painted CD with the label sides together. Hold the two CDs together and center them over the top of the glass bottle and set on the cookie sheet. (the two CDs will fuse together in the oven). The rimmed tea light holder, like the green one below, is prepared as above but centered over a glass jar or soda can.

For the flat CDs under the tea lights and jewelry dish, lay the painted CDs, with the painted side up, on the cookie sheet.

In this photo you can't see the bottle, jar or can so, you'll have to look at the next photo to see how the CDs are centered on the bottle, soda can and jar to shape these CDs for tea light holders or a jewelry dish.

I used Sun Catcher Paint from Oriental Trading when painting these CDs. The paints come in a set of 10 (4 oz.) bottles. A little sun catcher paint goes a long way so these can be considered classroom sized bottles of paint.

Center on Containers for Forming

Okay, so this is how the CDs will look centered on the glass bottle, jar or soda can. These CDs aren't painted....I'm just showing how they should look.

Bake in 375 Degree Oven

Just lay the painted CDs flat on the cookie sheet.

Place the prepared CDs on the cookie sheet in the preheated oven (375 degrees) for 10 minutes. Leave in a minute or two longer if the CDs haven't folded down over the bottle or jar.

Remove from oven, carefully lift the fused CDs off the bottle, jar or can. Use a potholder to place the pieces on a paper towel to cool. Use a pancake turner to gently lift the edges of the flat pieces and cool on a paper towel.

Be sure that your room is ventilated. I probably should have lined the pan with tinfoil, I will from now on. If you are concerned about toxins, perhaps you would rather use a toaster oven in the garage to do the baking.

Our Baked CDs

The CDs come out of the oven looking just beautiful. The photos actually don't do justice to the pieces we made.

Purple Tea Light

You can see how the two CDs that form the bowl of the candle holder fused together. The outside of the bowl is the painted side and the inside is the original silver.

Green Tea Light Holder

As you can see this bowl wasn't made using two CDs so you can see the written side on the outside of the bowl.

Jewelry Dish

A beautiful jewelry holder for your dresser.

Hanna's Idea: A Cookie Plate

Hanna thought making a cookie plate was a good idea.

Granddaughter Hope

Hope, Hanna and Hayden are sisters, so we combined their photo frames together. They each painted the CD that holds their photo. We used the bottom of the flameless tea candle for a pattern to draw circles over photos of the girls. Then cut the photo circles and glued them to the centers of the CDs.

Granddaughter Hanna

For the frames we cut cardboard circles to fit the back of the CDs. We took a long piece of wire edged ribbon and stapled the cardboard pieces to the ribbon. Then we applied glue to the back of the CDs and glued them over the cardboard circles, sandwiching the ribbon between.

Granddaughter Hayden

We made a bow at the top of the photo trio, and cut a v in the bottom of the ribbon, under and past the last CD.

Granddaughter Ella

Ella is the oldest and only girl in her family. We assembled her photo frame in the same way.

Glue Felt on CDs for Coasters

Hanna and Hope glued the felt to the back of the CDs to make coasters.

Cut circles of felt the same size as the CD and glue to the back of the CD to make a coaster. We made a set of six coasters.

Coasters

How about making coasters for the holidays?

Decorated Jar

I used this jar to form some of the CDs and thought that it would make a useful container to hold Q-tips or cotton balls. I drew simple flowers on the side of the jar with a black Sharpie. Then painted the flowers with craft paints.

CD Lid for Glass Jar

I thought that all CDs were made the same, but evidently they aren't because when I put this CD on my jar to bake and form it, the CD didn't get the bubbly look that all the other ones did. I used this one anyway, but I would have preferred that it had the bubbly look. For the knob on the lid,I used a wooded ball, that I painted, that was flat on one side and a hole drilled in it. On the inside I used a flat washer with the hole smaller than the hole in the CD. I used a wood screw to tighten the ball knob to the lid.

Do You Enjoy Crafting With Kids?

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Author

Loraine Brummer 2 years agofrom Hartington, Nebraska

Hi Kris. I didn't wait for the paint to dry before placing them on the bottle or can to shape in the oven. I don't believe it would make a difference if you let the paint dry first though. I did notice that there was one CD that didn't bubble up like the rest did when they were put in the oven. So some CDs are different. I guess the only way to know is to bake them. I hope you enjoy this craft as much as the granddaughters and I did.

Kris 2 years ago

I didn't read anywhere in the directions, but maybe I missed it. Do you let the pant dry or not?

Author

Loraine Brummer 2 years agofrom Hartington, Nebraska

Hi Mpaturzo. Although I used sun catcher paint that I had on hand, (a classroom Oriental Trading brand, that worked really well), I found a glass stain on Amazon that comes in smaller bottles. It takes very little glass stain paint for any craft, so there's no need in buying larger sizes.

I'm sure you'll enjoy making these CD tealight holders, and be sure to try other sun catcher crafts. They are easy to do and the colors are so bright that every project comes out terrific.

Nice to see you here, fullofshoes. Thanks for your visit. I'm sure you'll love making the tealight holders, they make nice gifts.

fullofshoes 2 years ago

Great ideas. I've got a stack of CDs that I was planning on throwing out but maybe not now :)

Author

Loraine Brummer 2 years agofrom Hartington, Nebraska

Hi Vellur. Thanks for visiting and for your nice comment. The tealight holders really make up beautifully. I hope you try this craft.

Author

Loraine Brummer 2 years agofrom Hartington, Nebraska

Hi peachpurple. The cd's aren't put in the microwave...that would make for a lot of sparks and fireworks. They are put in the oven. If you are worried about fumes, use a toaster oven outside or in the garage.

peachy 2 years agofrom Home Sweet Home

wonderful ideas but wouldn't the microwave oven blow up while baking the CDs?

Nithya Venkat 2 years agofrom Dubai

Great creative idea, they look so pretty. Thank you for sharing and voted up.

I like your idea . You are great. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I like how you create many things from the cds. http://hubpages.com/feed/my favorite were the candle holder and the frame.

lucretiamcevil 3 years ago

love it! this weekend my granddaughters and i made a dollhouse with cardboard boxes, plastic lids (for windows), and not-so-hot glue. we had a ball.

smsr0100451 3 years ago

Wonderful idea. I have too many waste CDs.

anonymous 3 years ago

Hi Loraine, I absolutely love the CD lights and would like to feature them on AllFreeKidsCrafts.com with a photo and a link back to this page. Please contact me if you are interested. Best, Jaclyn Holtzmaneditor@allfreekidscrafts.com

Elyn MacInnis 4 years agofrom Shanghai, China

So cool. I bet they loved it! CDs are going obsolete, and what to do with them? Now I know! Thank you!

WinWriter 4 years ago

You have some great ideas here ..even the glass jar at the end. Congratulations on your purple star. :)

anonymous 4 years ago

Once again, how delightfully creative of you, it seems that your ideas never end...I particularly like the tea light holder....congratulations on your Getting Personal feature!

Mickie Goad 4 years ago

I sent this page to my daughter. She has 3 children who love to make sparkly crafts. The are in to recycling, too.

Author

Loraine Brummer 4 years agofrom Hartington, Nebraska

I guess everyone has to decide for themselves about making this craft. We did have ventilation and the CDs are in the oven for 10 minutes. I didn't notice any smell, but others may. If using the oven is a concern, perhaps a toaster oven could be used in the garage. I do think it is important to have ventilation.

kimadagem 4 years ago

Just wondering - have you looked into the possible toxic effects of exposing CDs to that much heat - meaning fumes, deposits in the oven, etc.? When I was working with polymer clay, which is also a form of plastic (as are CDs), there was a lot of discussion about that; many people (including me) bought a separate oven - a toaster oven - for the clay so there would be no chance of anything being collected in the oven and then deposited on food. And polymer clay is actually designed to be baked; that's how it's cured. CDs aren't meant to be put in an oven.I'm sorry to bring this up but I get really concerned when I read about people exposing plastics to high heat.

CatJGB 4 years ago

What a great idea! School holidays are coming up and I think my boys would love to try this.

Virginia Allain 4 years agofrom Central Florida

What fun ways to use all those CDs that would get tossed. I have some DVDs that don't work or are out of date. Gonna have some fun.

Rhonda Lytle 4 years agofrom Deep in the heart of Dixie

This is the bomb! If you showed me those candle holders I never would have guessed they were hand made by kids from cds. Outstanding!

marktplaatsshop 4 years ago

Well this is a great lens, I love to try this with the kids, it is so easy, thanks for sharing

anonymous 4 years ago

Thank you Grandma for spending this last weekend with us it was very special to us all. We hope to do many more crafts with you soon. Love you to pieces Grandma!! Hope, Hanna, Hayden